Ezequiel Tovar

Tovar has only played nine games in the majors and five games at Triple-A, but the Rockies have been invested in him as their shortstop of the future since they bought him a house in 2020 when he couldn't return home to Venezuela during the pandemic. He had impressed at times in the minors prior to last season, most notably logging a 119 wRC+ as a 19-year-old at Single-A in 2021, but 2022 was certainly his breakout campaign. Tovar hit .318/.386/.545 with 13 home runs, 17 steals on 20 attempts and a 64:25 K:BB in 66 games as one of the youngest players at Double-A. Hip and groin injuries sidelined Tovar from late-June until mid-September, when he returned and went directly to Triple-A for a week before spending the final two weeks of the year with the big club. An over-aggressive approach has been the one offensive knock on Tovar, but so far he has mostly made it work. There's a chance he goes through a significant adjustment period against MLB pitching as a 21-year-old, but it seems pretty clear the Rockies will give him every opportunity in spring training to break camp as the starting shortstop. Tovar isn't a burner (57th percentile sprint speed) and doesn't hit the ball very hard (22.5 Hard% in the minors, 106 mph max EV in the majors), but he has been productive in games while being extremely young for most of his minor-league levels.

The Rockies have pushed Tovar aggressively at every turn, culminating with his big-league debut in September. He is the team's shortstop of the present and future after a breakout campaign in which he hit .316/.387/.540 with 14 home runs and 17 steals in 71 games between Double-A and Triple-A. Tovar turned 21 in August, so while there may be growing pains initially in the majors, he could still be improving as a hitter.